http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... uggle.html -

Immigrant-smuggling ring broken, officials say




By Ray Huard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 18, 2006

An East County immigrant smuggling operation was broken this week with the arrest of its alleged ringleader and two associates, federal prosecutors said yesterday.

A San Diego federal grand jury indicted eight men on smuggling charges and four others on related charges, prosecutors said.



Advertisement



Three of the primary operatives of the ring have been arrested and authorities are still searching for the five others indicted, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Valerie H. Chu.
Among those arrested was Cesar Rodrigo Corona-Garcia, 30, of San Diego, who Chu said was the leader of an operation in which an unspecified number of immigrants were smuggled into the United States.

Corona-Garcia's organization smuggled immigrants across the Mexican border to several East County locations, using scouts and drivers to transport them to Los Angeles, Chu said.

The immigrants were led across the border on foot while scouts kept watch for Border Patrol agents and tracked whether agency checkpoints were operating, prosecutors said.

Directed by the scouts, drivers picked up the immigrants, crammed them into the beds and cabs of extended-cab pickup trucks and drove them to Los Angeles, usually along Intestate 15, prosecutors said.

The smuggling ring began operating in July, Chu said.

Corona-Garcia and two of his operatives – Genaro Tapia-Orozco, 47, and Antonio De Jesus Valerio, 20 pleaded not guilty earlier this week in federal court to a variety of charges, prosecutors said.

If tried and convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Huard: (619) 542-4597; ray.huard@uniontrib.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------